


Pearl's Bubble: Fury Road

by Pyrolitheus



Category: Mad Max Fury road, Mad Max Series (Movies), Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Polyamorous Character, Some main characters from Steven Universe are dead before this story begins.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:34:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21802984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyrolitheus/pseuds/Pyrolitheus
Summary: Summary, warning, rating, and categories will be updated when the work is complete. This one...well, I raised my own eyebrows at the concept, we'll see how it goes!This is a Mad Max: Fury Road and Steven Universe crossover, which assumes that Fury Road takes place in the same setting as Steven Universe, just in the future.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	1. Bubble City

Lapis moved to stand in the opening that served as a doorway between the small room behind her and the large cavern in the middle of Bubble City. The cavern was lined with similar openings in rows. Many had drapes. A series of ladders formed a network for humans to reach most of them. There was no ladder to this chamber. The sound of Garnet glitching again behind her drew her attention just in time to see the white flickers of her form.

“This isn’t working, Garnet,” Lapis said, repeating a conversation they had had many times over the years.

Garnet lounged gently on an earthen bed, feet crossed at the ankles. She held her left hand in her right, looking down at the cracked Ruby in her palm, and sighed.

“The fusion is keeping Ruby stable, and the stasis of the bubble will keep the fusion stable.”

Lapis, of course, already knew this. Ruby had been cracked for over a decade, after all.

“We need to find Steven,” Lapis said again, assertively.

Garnet glitched again. Lapis did her best not to wince.

“Pearl would never allow it,” Garnet replied. A thump behind Lapis indicated another Gem had jumped up to the ledge.

“Besides, we don’t know where he is,” Bismuth said. “I assume we are talking about finding Steven again?”

“Yes,” said Lapis.

“He should have been back years ago,” Bismuth said. They had also had this conversation countless times. “I don’t think he is coming back.”

Bismuth moved towards Garnet.

“How are you feeling?”

Garnet glitched in response.

“You go ahead, Lapis,” Bismuth said, “I’ll take it from here.”

Lapis flew off the ledge and hovered near the top of the cave. Parts of the huge translucent white bubble that gave Bubble City its name showed here and there at the top of the cavern, but most of it was hidden by jagged rock face. Humans lounged below in the great central chamber or in their personal spaces. The stasis of the bubble meant they didn’t need food or water. Lights that Peridot and Bismuth had built into the stalactites of the cavern ceiling when Steven first helped Pearl bubble the city were beginning to dim, indicating the sun was going to go down soon outside.

A child’s laughter filtered up to Lapis. She looked down. Amethyst was doing shape shifting tricks again.

“Do another, do another!” said the child. She recognized the child as Cameron.

Amethyst changed from a tiny car into a pterodactyl. The child squealed. Lapis smiled. Then, she noticed the child’s three coparents, Skyler, Miranda, and Charlie, watching with frowns on their faces. Concerned, she flew down to them.

“What’s wrong?” she asked them quietly.

She watched them glance at each other and nod slightly to one another and worried about what they had to say.

“Lapis, look at Cameron,” Skyler replied softly.

“She looks...happy?”

“I know Gems don’t age,” Miranda said, “but how old does our kid look to you?”

“I don’t know,” Lapis admitted. “Cameron looks about the same as when we came here. How fast do humans age?”

“Lapis, Cameron is fifteen years old and still looks, talks, and acts like a five year old,” Charlie replied.

“Cameron was five years old when Bubble City was bubbled by Pearl and Steven,” Skyler clarified.

“Is this...bad?”

“Yes!” they all said together.

“Lapis, can you talk to Bismuth and Peridot? Maybe they can fix something about the bubble,” Miranda asked.

“I don’t think it works that way, but I will go ask. I will also let Mayor Pearl know.”

The three humans looked uncomfortably at one another.

“What?” she asked them.

“Mayor Pearl does not want humans to leave,” Skyler said. The others nodded.

“Wait, you want to -” Lapis suddenly realized she was shouting, and dropped her voice back down to a conspiratorial whisper. “You want to leave Bubble City?”

The three humans nodded.

“But why? The Earth is dying or already dead. There will be nowhere for you to live if you leave here.”

“There is no way for us to live here,” Skyler replied. All three parents looked pointedly at their child.

Lapis sighed, then nodded.

“I will make sure Pearl knows it is a problem that humans aren’t aging here,” she said.

“Thank you, Lapis,” Miranda replied.

Lapis took flight again and looked around. She spotted Pearl running a sword class through drills, and swooped down nearby to watch and wait. She knew the class would end soon as the light was fading. Pearl dismissed them shortly after.

“Mayor Pearl,” Lapis said, “I need to speak with you.”

Pearl gestured for Lapis to follow and began walking through the cavern towards her own room in the cavern, which was under Garnet’s.

“What is it, Lapis?”

“Let’s wait until we are away from others,” Lapis requested. Pearl accepted this with a nod.

When they arrived at Pearl’s room, Lapis explained that the humans in Bubble City were not aging.

“I know,” Pearl said.

“You – you know?”

“Yes.”

“But isn’t – isn’t that bad?”

“I don’t think so,” Pearl said. “They live more like gems here. Their bodies do not change quite so much. In fact, this is quite good for them because it means they will not die of old age like – like Con – like –”

Pearl swallowed hard with emotion. Connie’s death was no surprise to anyone. She had died at 112 years old after all, quite old for a human. However, Pearl had taken it particularly hard.

“It’s not just their bodies,” Lapis asserted after giving Pearl a moment. “Even Gems grow and change over time. The human children are thinking and acting younger than they are, just like their bodies are younger than they are.”

“There is nothing wrong with Bubble City!” Pearl’s voice was raised. Lapis wondered if she should have given Pearl more time to deal with her emotions before pressing the conversation.

Pearl rose as she spoke and Lapis stepped back, intimidated.

“The humans don’t like that they don’t age,” she said, holding her ground with her words.

Pearl came toward her, and she stepped back again. The curtain of Pearl’s room touched her back.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Pearl exclaimed, “Why would anybody want to age?”

Lapis swallows hard.

A thump hit the ground outside. One big hand pulled the curtain back. Lapis turned to see Bismuth holding the curtain with one hand and carrying Garnet in the other. Behind them, humans crowded around, watching and listening.

“Pearl,” Garnet said, “It is time for something to change.”

“But Garnet, I –“ Pearl started to say.

Garnet glitched again. Pearl’s face contorted with pity, fear, sorrow, and the attempt to hide those things.

“Pearl!” Garnet commanded.

“You should be resting!” Pearl finally said.

“Listen to them, Mayor Pearl,” Miranda called out from the crowd. “Listen to Lapis and Garnet.”

“Listen to Lapis and Garnet!” Skylar echoed, chanting the words rhythmically.

“Listen to Lapis and Garnet! Listen to Lapis and Garnet!” the cry went up.

The humans gathered nearby joined in together. Bismuth joined them. “Listen to Lapis and Garnet!”

“I – I –“ Pearl started to say.

“Listen to Lapis and Garnet!”

Pearl hung her head, then held up her hands for silence. The crowd died down.

“I see now that you are very unhappy,” Pearl said to the crowd. “The point of Bubble City was to create a safe place for humans to live. But, safety is not enough by itself. If you are not happy here, then there is work to be done to create something better.”

The crowd cheered.

“What needs to be done?” Pearl asked.

“Humans need to age,” Charlie said. “Especially our children. Can you adjust the bubble to let us age?”

“I’m afraid it does not work that way,” Pearl said.

“We need to go outside the bubble then,” Skyler responded. Shouts of agreement erupted briefly.

“We can’t!” Pearl exclaimed. “Without the bubble, there is no food, and no water. And without Steven, we cannot reform a bubble this big. Everyone would die. Well, not everyone. The Gems would be just fine of course. We do not need food or water to survive. But the humans would all die!”

Silence filled the cavern, broken by the sounds of children playing elsewhere.

“It is time to find Steven,” Lapis said.

“How?” Pearl asked.

“I have an idea for that,” Peridot said, then turned to look at Garnet. “but I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”

“What is your idea?” Garnet asked.

“Garnet, if you and Padparadscha fuse, your combined abilities to see the future and things that have just happened could mix to help you locate Steven,” Peridot responded.

Padparadscha gasped.

“I predict Lapis will suggest we look for Steven – and will say it to Pearl’s face! How dramatic!” Padparadscha said from behind Miranda.

Miranda stepped to one side to prevent blocking Padparadscha’s view.

Lapis felt a familiar twinge in the bottom of her belly and staved off a shudder. No one but Peridot knew that her toxic fusion from her earliest days free from the mirror still left such a powerful imprint on her emotions.

“Could that work?” Pearl asked softly.

Garnet was silent.

“Garnet?” Bismuth asked.

More silence.

“What’s wrong?” Lapis prompted.

“It’s possible,” Garnet finally said. “But it would be most effective if Sapphire is not distracted by keeping Ruby stable. If we are going to do this, then I must unfuse, and once we do, Ruby’s gem will have to be bubbled.”

“Garnet...” Whatever Pearl’s complaint was going to be, her voice trailed off instead.

“I predict – oh wow! I predict, that Peridot will suggest that Garnet and I fuse! But will such a wonderful and powerful gem fusion want to fuse with me?”

“Padparadscha,” Garnet said, “How would you feel about fusing with Sapphire instead of with Garnet?”

The cavern full of humans and Gems waited for Padparadscha to catch up. Long moments passed by.

“I predict, that Garnet will struggle with this choice and then will ask me to fuse with Sapphire instead! What an unexpected turn of events!”

Everyone continued to wait.

“I would be honored to fuse with Sapphire,” Padparadscha finally said.

Garnet’s form turned white, and began to separate into Ruby and Sapphire’s shapes. Before they could finish forming. Sapphire bubbled Ruby’s gem. She stood tiny and blue between large and powerful gems, holding a blue bubble with Ruby’s cracked gem inside it. She hugged it close.

“Oh, Ruby,” She whispered, then turned to Bismuth. “Protect her.”

“I will,” Bismuth promised, carefully taking the bubble from Sapphire.

“I will wait for you Padparadscha,” Sapphire said. “Dance with me when you are ready.”

Sapphire waited.

“Oh wow she bubbled her before she even formed! How magical!” Padparadscha said.

Sapphire continued to wait.

“Yes, I see, it is up to me to begin,” Padparadscha asserted.

Padparadscha began break dancing, much to everyone’s surprise. Lapis watched Sapphire shake off the surprise, then began to match Padparadscha’s rhythm. Their hands touched, their gems glowed, their forms turned white, and they began to fuse. Lapis clenched her jaw, and wondered what would happen.

The new fusion formed. They were as tall as Lapis, with long pale purple hair draping down the right side and short hair on the left. Their skin was almost as gray is Bismuth’s but still purple, almost like an off-coclor Amethyst. They had two eyes where each had one individually, and they were stacked vertically.

“I’m Smoky Sapphire,” she said, then giggled. “I don’t think I have ever seen this clearly before.”

“I was always so busy looking forward,” she started to say while sounding more like Sapphire.

“Or too busy celebrating how we got there,” she continued while sounding more like Padparadscha.

“To really understand the full picture,” Smoky Sapphire concluded.

Humans and gems alike ogled them. Smoky Sapphire tapped her face and a single heart-shaped opaque lens covered her two eyes.

“Smoky Sapphire,” Pearl said, “How do we find Steven?”

“Ah yes, Steven,” Smoky Sapphire said. “Steven was able to separate his bubbles from the inside to protect himself, and was able to throw people out of them as well. Pearl, there has to be a way for you to let a small group out to go search for Steven. Once we have him, he can heal Ruby, and if anyone can fix Bubble City to allow humans to age and still stay safe here, it’s him.”

“But, no one has gone outside for over ten Earth years,” Pearl said. “Will there be food? This should probably be a Gem mission. The humans should stay here where it is safe.”

Smoky Sapphire tapped her lens in a motion reminiscent of Garnet.

“There will be trouble. Nothing a Gem can’t handle, but food and water will be scarce and guns will be plenty. How exciting!”


	2. Emerging into the Desert

Lapis stood by the part of the bubble that walled off Bubble City from the rocky corridor that lead to the outside world. The path was dark, but she knew from the dim Gem lights that dawn was about to break outside. Bismuth, Peridot, Amethyst, Sapphire, Padparadscha, Pearl, Miranda, Skyler, Charlie, Cameron, and several humans were gathered near the entrance. Miranda and Charlie were packed and ready to go, saying teary good-byes to Cameron and Skyler as well as to their friends.

“If you find a warp out there...” Bismuth started to say.

“I will harvest it for parts,” Peridot finished her sentence for her, then jumped up into Bismuth’s arms for a warm hug.

“Oh, oh! Be careful out there,” Pearl said. “Even for Gems, this planet has become a hostile place.”

“Mayor Pearl? More like Mom Pearl,” Amethyst teased sarcastically under her breath to Lapis.

Lapis snickered, appreciative of both the joke and Pearl’s caring.

“Pearl, it is time,” Sapphire said.

Pearl approached the wall of the bubble. She lifted a hand towards it, hesitating, not touching. After a moment she dropped her hand.

“How did Steven do this?” she asked.

Everyone looked at Sapphire and Padparadscha. Sapphire looked at Padparadscha.

“I predict Bismuth and Peridot will seek to add a side quest to our mission, for warp pad parts! What a brilliant idea!”

Everyone waited.

After some time, Padparadscha caught up.

“Pearl,” Padparadscha said, “Steven could move one bubble through another. You could try bubbling us, rolling us to the wall, and then merging the walls of the bubbles to let us through.”

Lapis saw Pearl look at Sapphire, who nodded. Pearl took a deep breath.

“Stand close together,” she ordered.

Lapis, Peridot, Amethyst, Sapphire, Padparadscha, Charlie, and Miranda stood as close together as they could get. Pearl frowned.

“I have never made a bubble that big on my own,” Pearl said, looking at them.

“We can go one at a time,” Lapis offered.

“Okay,” Pearl said, “Amethyst, you first.”

“You got it P.”

Everyone moved away from Amethyst. Pearl looked uncertain.

“Pearl, if anyone here can do this, it’s you,” Amethyst said. “Remember, you’re strong. In the real way.”

Pearl nodded, then lifted her hands. Visibly struggling from the effort, Pearl bubbled Amethyst’s full form entirely.

“I did it! I really did it!” Pearl exclaimed, then drew serious again. “Now for the hard part.”

Pearl and Amethyst rolled the translucent white bubble encasing Amethyst to the wall of the city. Pearl took another deep breath, then pushed on the bubble. It merged into the wall, scooting Amethyst into the corridor outside the city.

One by one, Pearl moved the rest of the party through the wall. Once on the other side, they regrouped, waved to those watching, and turned towards the dark depths of the tunnel. Peridot took the lead, lighting the path before them with light from her gem as if it was a headlamp. The humans went next, as they needed the light more than the others.

The tunnel twisted and turned, rising as it went, until they could see light up ahead. The closer they got, the brighter the stone walls became until Peridot’s gem light was swallowed by daylight. Blinking in the sunlight, everyone emerged on a ledge overlooking the unending desert the world had become. They were standing on a small hill. Lapis took flight to look around.

From high in the sky, she could see that the desert continued in all directions. In the distance, she saw a massive vehicle driving at full speed through the desert on a path that would lead it close to where her friends now stood. Others were in pursuit, firing on it. Looking ahead along the vehicle’s trajectory, Lapis saw the edge of a place she remembered, a place which once had water. It was still wet, but the lushness had gone. She swooped back down and told the others what she had seen.

Amethyst drew her weapon. “Let’s go save them!”

“We don’t even know who they are,” Miranda said. “How can we know which side to save?”

“The people who are pointing their guns at other people are clearly the bad guys,” Peridot said strongly.

“No, Miranda is right,” Sapphire said. “We need to investigate before we will know what is going on or we may interfere only to make matters worse.”

Lapis swallowed hard. Ruby’s gem had been hit by a bullet. She imagined this mission was going to be particularly difficult for Sapphire.

“Padparadscha?” Sapphire invited, offering one hand.

Everyone waited patiently for Padparadscha to catch up. When she did, Smokey Sapphire appeared in moments.

“What do we do, Smokey? Heh. Feels weird calling you that somehow,” Amethyst asked.

Smokey Sapphire adjusted her lens and looked out across the desert.

“We go stop this fight,” she said. “That will lead us to Steven.”

“Why, is he with them?” Peridot exclaimed

“No,” Smokey Sapphire said, then began walking down the hill. The others followed. “Here is my plan.”

Everyone listened to Smokey Sapphire’s plan while they walked, then they dispersed to position themselves, hidden as best they could among the sand. When the first vehicle approached, Smokey Sapphire stood. The vehicle started to veer in order to go around her, but Lapis drew as much water as she could summon from the air and tossed it to Smokey Sapphire, who froze it and sent streams of huge ice daggers into the air. They landed point down, a few feet apart from one another, making a barrier to stop the vehicle.

Lapis saw the driver, with shaved hair, looking both afraid and determined. The passenger in the front looked insane in the eyes, and carried at least two guns. In the back seat, more terrified humans wearing only strips of white cloth watched in alarm as Lapis, Smokey Sapphire, and Miranda approached them.

“Why have you stopped us?” the passenger demanded, pointing a gun directly at Smokey Sapphire’s head. “And what the hell are you?”

“I am your worst nightmare or your best friend,” she replied.

“What?”

“It all depends on how good you’ve been.”

Lapis saw the driver smirk, then hide it.

“It’s okay,” the driver said, still in the seat. “He’s with me. Look, we are in a hurry, what do you want?”

“Why are they after you?” Smokey Sapphire asked.

Lapis saw the driver appraise Smokey Sapphire and suddenly make a decision. 

“They want to take back what I stole,” the driver said, and to Lapis’ horror, gestured at the humans in the back seat. “Please, let us pass. We just need to get to safety.”

The sound of approaching vehicles drew near. The rest of Lapis’ party was about to spring a similar trap on them. Lapis used her power to lift the ice daggers and sink them into the ground on the other side of the transport.

“We will do more than that,” she promised, hearing the rage in her own voice.

The passenger with the guns blinked in surprise and stopped pointing one at Smokey Quartz. Both of their gems were on the same hand. It would be easier for them to protect themselves from cracking.

“Who are you fleeing?” Smokey Sapphire asked.

“Immortan Joe and his War Boys,” the driver said. Lapis watched the passengers in the back cringe and lower their heads at the name. She felt that she understood something of what they were feeling.

“Let’s stop them, then follow this transport to help them get to safety,” Lapis said to Smokey Sapphire. “We don’t know where Steven is anyway, this could end up being on our way.”

“Agreed,” Smokey Sapphire said.

“We will stop them, and then catch up to you,” Miranda said.

The transport began to move just as Amethyst’s shape-shifted helicopter form began to blow up a cloud of sand all around the pursuing vehicles.

Miranda and Charlie hung back outside of the cloud while the Gems entered it. Lapis was glad; she did not want them to get hurt, and they were a lot more susceptible to bullets than Gems were.

Lapis flew up above the sand cloud, watching, listening. She could hear Peridot pulling vehicles apart with her powers, the confused shouts of the War Boys mixed in with their ridiculous boasting, and the unmistakeable sound of ice cracking as Smokey Sapphire joined the fray. Lapis hovered, watching with her ears. Suddenly a vehicle began to plunge free of the sand cloud.

“Oh no you don’t!” Lapis said, then swooped down and grabbed hold of the roll cage. Ignoring the indignant shouts of the War Boys on their vehicle, she picked it up and flew up with it, shaking it, letting the humans fall. She would not admit to the others that she enjoyed their screams as they fell. She disliked that part of herself, even as evil as the War Boys were. With no War Boys left on the vehicle, Lapis flew it back towards the direction the other vehicle had gone, and placed it ready for the team to use.

By the time she flew back, the rest of the War Boys’ vehicles had been dismantled beyond use and they were running back the way they had come.

“Apprentice Miranda,” Peridot said, “Which of these parts would you say are worth taking the time to scavenge right now?”

“Lapis,” Miranda asked, “Is that transport still in good working order?”

“It looks like it is.”

“Then the priority will be food, water, and fuel. The rations we took from the emergency supply at Bubble City will only last so long, and running out of fuel out here is almost as deadly as running out of water.”

Peridot nodded approvingly of her apprentice. Everyone began looking through the wreckage accordingly, and carrying supplies to the War Boy transport. When they were fully stocked, they began following the mysterious vehicle with the humans rescued from Immortan Joe.

Lapis watched while Miranda and Charlie began going through the supplies they had collected, and organizing and securing them.

“What is this?” Miranda asked, holding up a small case. It held three glass vials with stoppers. They were filled with a clear liquid with a consistency similar to soap.

“I just grabbed those because anything liquid out here is hard to find,” Peridot said. “I was going to figure out what they are later. Now’s later.”

Lapis watched while Peridot moved over to Miranda and took the vials from her. Moving away from the humans, Peridot opened one of the vials and smelled it, then flailed.

“Ew ew ew ew ew ew ewwww!” she said, “that is definitely human saliva!”

As Peridot flailed, some of the liquid escaped the tube. Lapis dodged it and watched as it hit the dry ground of the desert floor. Something green flared up.

“Smokey Sapphire, wait!” she said. “Go back!”

The fusion obliged, and backed the vehicle up. A small patch of life flourished where the liquid hit the ground. It was too small to handle the sun, however, and already began to droop.

“Well,” Lapis said, “Looks like we found Steven.”

“Yup,” Amethyst affirmed. “That is definitely Steven-grade spit right there.”

“They are farming Steven?!” Peridot exclaimed.


End file.
